MIAMI -- Attorneys for two terrorism suspects tied to an alleged al-Qaida dirty bomb suspect are asking for the dismissal of a federal indictment against them based on a jailer's mishandling of a Quran and intimidating jail cell searches that removed handwritten papers in Arabic.

The defense claims the seizures from the cells of Adhan Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi in May and June amount to government misconduct and an unconstitutional intrusion on trial preparation.

Jailers also disrespectfully tossed Hassoun's Quran on his bunk and left 8,000 pages of trial papers in disarray, his attorney Kenneth Swartz said in motions filed Friday.

Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian, and Jayyousi, a Jordanian national and U.S. citizen, face possible life prison sentences on charges of plotting to fund and support Islamic jihad through murder and kidnappings abroad, including Bosnia, Chechnya and Somalia.

``By depriving the defendants of the confidentiality of their own case-related notes, the government has destroyed any possible confidence that their case can be prepared with privacy,'' the men's attorneys wrote.

The defense also is asking for an order to either release the men from solitary confinement or on house arrest. Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Monday that prosecutors would respond in writing, but both motions said the federal trial attorney opposed them.

Messages left at the downtown jail where the men are detained by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons were not immediately returned. The defense said the warden responded to a March request by Hassoun for a change in jail conditions by saying he was a ``security threat.''

The Federal Detention Center has held other inmates deemed administrative risks, notably drug kingpins, in solitary for years despite defense protests.

On the Quran, a jail officer took a piece of paper with Arabic writing, but Hassoun explained that he had copied an excerpt from the holy book and showed him the matching text. The officer returned the paper and tossed the Quran on the bed.

``Even the U.S. military has said that's not the kind of treatment you give a holy book, so I guess FDC hasn't come to that conclusion,'' Swartz said Monday.

The conditions of confinement barring contact visits, restricting family visits by adult relatives to one-hour a week and delaying mail at least a month is ``punitive'' and ``not reasonably related to a legitimate government goal.''

Hassoun has been held in solitary for nearly a year following two years in an immigration jail.

Jayyousi, a former assistant superintendent in Detroit public schools, has been in isolation since he was arrested in March and transferred to Miami. Their trial is set for September 2006, which would leave them in solitary for another year unless changes are made.

Hassoun and Jayyousi are accused of being involved in an international terrorist financing plot that allegedly included attempts to recruit terrorists, including Jose Padilla, a former Broward County resident and Chicago gang member and Muslim convert held by the United States as an enemy combatant.

Arrested in May 2002, Padilla has been portrayed as a militant who planned attacks on the United States, including with a radioactive ``dirty bomb.''

If thats a winnable case we may as well just open the borders and let the terrorists walk in a blow us to hell. Meanwhile we have muslims burning American flags right here on our own streets and these reag heads should get off?

we incarcerated unjustly. FOR GAWDSAKE WAKE THE FUCK UP!! These people are terrorists, lower than murderers, lower than rapists. They are damn lucky we didn't a. kill them in the first place. b. kill them after interrogating them c. let some of the victims families spend five minutes of "quality time" with their sorry asses to help "understand their pain and viewpoint". I swear to God Almighty if you libs don't pull your heads outta your asses then we are in need of a Second Civil War to rid ourselves of the cancer within before the terrorists try to kill us from without.

I'd put them in tents, give them MRE's to eat (only the reconstituted pork patties), and if they want to read, the O'Reilly Factor in arabic for their convenience.

Oh, and there wouldn't be an issue of flushing their preciousl little books. A, they wouldn't have the very manual that has brainwashed them to hate us, nor would they have modern plumbing. Just a small shovel.

I dont think any of us have to tolerate intolerance. Why should we tolerate people burning Bibles? or burning flags? And whats more why should we respect them?

These people want to kill us. They arent content with burning religious books. They want our blood flowing in the street. Why can't the libs understand this?

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Surely you've heard the "logic" by now? It's all the conservatives' faults. We started the whole thing. If we would just put down our weapons and explian things in a reasonable manner to the jihadists, they would just stop and go back to camel racing and rock farming.

I personally would prefer that the nation stops the whole libs vs conservatives madness and forces an open discussion on what
the goals should be without using namecalling to disagree
with opposing oppinions.

Like it was pointed out in the thread, the radical muslims want
to kill any westerner. While there are legit questions about
what legal framework we apply, these questions of technicalities
muddle the true goals of the war on terror or as I prefer
to call it the war against radical Islam. I dont care about the IRA.
They didnt attack the US. Mostly Saudi radicals did it.

In order to defeat them the establishment of democracy is
a good beginning, but in the long run like in every war to break
the enemy spirit you have to kill alot of them. That will
demand sacrifices.

The congressmember that asked for a troop reduction deadline
did a disservice to our country in this war. Wavering is not
gonna convince the enemy we mean business.

Instead of the taxcut we should have allocated the money to expand
the intelligence community and the military.

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